TRUE LIFE STORY(TLS) - This Is What Happened to My Skin When I Quit Sugar for a Week

When entering your 20s, you expect to grow out of certain things —
braces, food pickiness (veggies are actually kind of good), and your
propensity for boy bands. (Okay, maybe not the last one.) Unfortunately
for me, two major problems still linger: my blemish-prone skin and my
undying love of sugar.

To be honest, I've never had amazing skin. I
started wearing foundation and concealer at the ripe age of 13 and have
rarely taken a break from the daily routine since. It was easy to feel
self-conscious when so many of my close friends were gifted with clear
complexions, never having to wear a drop of makeup in an attempt to
shield imperfections from the ever-present judgment of middle school
girls.

But while my
skin has slowly improved over the years, I've begun to notice a change
for the worse over the past few months. Redness and shine? Welcome back.
Breakouts? Oh, cool, you're here, too. I began questioning what I was
doing differently that could possibly be causing Acne Nightmare 2.0. As I
contemplated this while staring into a glass case of beautifully
decorated cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery, it dawned on me: I've been eating
way more sugary foods than usual.

Since moving to New York City, I've indulged in all the buzzworthy
sweets — the cronut, Dough doughnuts, Ladurée macarons, Georgetown
cupcakes, gelato from Little Italy, and a questionable amount of
bizarrely great cookies from our office's cafeteria.

I began to
rationalize my sugar-laden choices: "A sweet a few times a week is
perfectly acceptable," I'd think. "I'm walking so much now that I'm in
the city," I'd tell myself. "It's been a hard day, I deserve it," I'd
say as I ate all the snacks. But with every sweet I took down, I began to notice that a few new marks popped up on my face.

The
American Heart Association advises that women consume no more than six
teaspoons of sugar daily, which equates to roughly 100 calories. Some of
the sweets I was indulging in accounted for a full day's serving of
sugar. And I never thought twice about it.

So I decided to go
straight to an expert. Besides the usual health suspects (obesity and
diabetes), sugar can screw over your skin. Dr. Carl Thornfeldt, a
dermatologist with over 30 years of skin research experience, says sugar
has two major effects on skin — it activates inflammation and binds to
the collagen to make the skin stiff. He says any processed sugar is too
much, and can eventually cause long-term damage because of chronic
inflammation.

He suggested that if I reduce my intake by
two-thirds, then I could see a decrease in inflammatory acne lesions and
redness by as early as six days. Translation? Less sugar = better skin.
Motivated and ready for a change, I set goals for what felt like it
would be the longest week of my life. I would eat absolutely no
processed sugar for seven days — with the hope that I would live to tell
the tale (with amazing skin to boot).

Day 1

Walking
into work without makeup on to take my inaugural cleanse photo was
horrifying enough, but it was extra terrifying considering I had a
breakout the day before around my lips and cheeks. There was simply no
way to hide it. Ditching sugar for the day was not too hard considering I
had my fair share the day before. I just tried to keep busy and avoided
snacking or walking past the vending machine at all costs.

Day 2

Black
coffee just doesn't taste the same as a Starbucks caramel macchiato,
but it had to do. I was definitely struggling halfway through the day
and wanted to so badly buy chocolate or anything to satisfy my sweet
tooth, but held on through work.

Oddly enough, today was the first
day in a very long time that I didn't feel the afternoon crash I
usually go through where I become groggy around 4 p.m. Though I was
still craving sugar, I felt liberated. My roommate even commented on my
endless energy that day, as I was begging her to run around the city
with me after work — which was, let's just say, not a usual request.

"My roommate even commented on my endless energy that day, as I was begging her to run around the city with me after work."

Day 3

A
Saturday at the beach doesn't seem complete without a Firecracker
Popsicle and a drink in hand, but I sipped on lemon water and enjoyed a
day jumping in the waves regardless. Later at home while making salad
and chicken for dinner, I realized how much healthier I was eating
because I was watching my sugar intake.

After reading the labels
on nearly everything I picked up in the grocery store, I was appalled by
how many packaged foods, sauces, and "naturally flavored" drinks had
added sugar in them. I was forced to buy everything fresh and make meals
from scratch. It was more work, but it was rewarding knowing that what I
was putting in my body was good for me and untainted by processed —
albeit delicious — crap.

Day 4

Never get a
craving for cereal when attempting this experiment. Every single box of
cereal in my local grocery store had some form of sugar in it — cane
sugar, syrups with names I couldn't pronounce, brown sugar, you name it.
After reading the labels on everything from Cheerios to Chex, I finally
found a seven whole grain puffs cereal by Kashi that tasted extremely
bland, but did the trick when paired with bananas and blueberries.

Today
is when I really began to notice a definite change in the way my skin
looked. Though I was a little sunburnt under my eyes from the day
before, my bumps and scars were a little less visible than they were the
past three days. The breakout around my lips had diminished
significantly, and I was beginning to think maybe this could work for me
after all.

"Every single box of cereal in my
local grocery store had some form of sugar in it — cane sugar, syrups
with names I couldn't pronounce, brown sugar, you name it."

Day 5

Because
this day was entirely spent cleaning and getting ready for my friends
who were coming into the city to see a concert with me the next morning,
I barely had time to think about food. Quick cereal, salad, and
homemade pita pizzas were about all I had time for.

Day 6

After
the concert, my friends insisted we go to Sprinkles Cupcakes. This was
sheer torture. I was so close to the finish line but all I could
envision was me finishing a giant peanut butter banana cupcake in all
its sprinkle-coated glory. I watched my friends down their cupcakes as I
shed a few internal tears. At least I felt like I was having a pretty
good skin day — no new breakouts had emerged over the past few days and I
was thrilled.

Day 7

I woke up
pleasantly surprised. Sure, my skin wasn't 100% perfect — I'll always
have scarring and dark spots from past breakouts, but my skin looked
renewed. The overall redness of had gone away and there was a brightness
that hadn't been there before. I felt like I was glowing from the
inside out. My body felt better and less sluggish from the ups and downs
of sugar crashes and my breakouts were gone.

I'm proud of myself
that I was able to make it seven days without sugar, but I know it is
not something I can quit entirely forever. I just love it too much. That
being said, it has been a few days since I stopped the challenge and I
am still keeping my sweets to a minimum because I am happier now with
the way I look and feel. I've learned over the week that having a
balance and setting limits for yourself is important and truly worth it,
even if that does mean skipping the free cupcakes at work every once in
a while. (But not all the time. Balance, you guys. Balance.)